What is the Divine?
Beyond belief is an experience
I quietly stepped into the doorway of a small cave at the top of a hill. It was a small side door beside an altar. The air was fresh and cool as I walked down into the cave. Inside, peacefully resting on a stone, was a tiny figurine of the goddess, and beside her were a few coins, dried flowers, and wicks for a butter lamp. I sat down and took a deep breath to center myself and begin meditating with the Earth Goddess rumored to reside here.
As I connected with the Earth and the Sun, I opened myself to the energy of the place. I began to feel the deep, dark energy of the Earth. Then the energy began to rise through my central channel, through each of my chakras, and up to the Sun. A rhythm between the Earth and the Sun, going up and down, began to flow within me. This is one sign of a sacred place, the circulation of energy between the Earth and the Sun. I felt my vibration rise. My chakras began to open and align. My subtle bodies became more coherent, and the connection to the experience of the divine became easier, clearer, and stronger. It is a feeling I love.
After meditating for a few minutes, I smelled a sweet, floral scent that hadn’t been there before. I opened my eyes, searching for the source of the beautiful scent, and realized there was nothing around. The goddess answered with a scent on the breeze.
Within the chakra system, the root chakra is associated with smell. Often, when one comes into contact with a place resonant with or connected to the 1st chakra, a scent seems to come from nowhere, as in my experience in the cave of the Goddess at the Sita Mata Cave in Avani, India.
Since the dawn of time, humanity has been aware of places that felt different. Places where they felt better, calmer, and more uplifted. Places where they experienced something different, places that changed their perception, reorganized their subtle bodies, and even healed.
In Indian and Nepalese traditions, the oldest and most powerful places are not chosen at random; they are recognized as something very special, something that has always been there. This is an experience that stabilizes, heals, and reorganizes. These places are called Swayambhu. Temples are often built to surround, protect, and mark the place where people can experience healing and transformation.
It is good to begin redefining a sacred place not from a place of religion, but from a place of experience that shifts you from the mundane to a different perspective. And this is not a mental state; the difference in the place is sensed immediately in the body. When you go from ordinary space outside and enter a sacred cave, temple, or sanctuary, your body knows before your mind can catch up.
What changes? The temperature is the same, the noise is the same, the crowds or their absence are the same, yet something changes. Subtle shifts occur in the body. Breathing changes; sometimes it deepens, as if you can finally take a deep breath. Perhaps a tension settles in the belly or chest. The air feels denser and has a different quality. Sounds continue but fade into the background, and you become aware of your feet and how they touch the ground. Walking slows, and you feel more present.
In India, certain ancient temples dedicated to Shiva have been reported by people to experience a progressive increase in vibration and intensity as they approach the sacred center. It is not an emotion but a pressure, heat in the spinal column, or vibration in the chest or head.
I have felt this too, whether visiting megaliths, cathedrals, or temples. The energy in my body rises higher and higher. First, I become aware of my feet on the ground. Then, chakra by chakra, the sensation moves up my central column. Sometimes I feel tension or pressure in one area as the energy slowly loosens and begins to rise again toward the crown of my head. When the energy arrives at the top of my head, I feel subtle tickles and a pulling sensation upward.
This is what the divine is all about; it is an experience of a place where something different happens in the body, something that increases vibration, brings greater coherence, and even transformation and healing to the body.